Reversal of Fortune
by TheBaritone
Summary: After a shocking discovery about the true nature of Moriarty's death, and a disastrous encounter with the criminal mastermind, John and Mary are forced to flee to America with their newborn son Dean.
1. Dean

**Dean**

A smile spread across John Watson's face as he held his newborn son for the first time. Mary sat beside him in the hospital bed, looking exhausted, but happy as she gazed at the child. "He's beautiful," he murmured.

Mary smiled at John's sentimentality. "Sherlock's will be getting anxious out there."

"Probably scaring the nurses with his deductions. Better go fetch him." He handed the baby back to Mary. "I'll be right back."

Sure enough, John found the consulting detective in the waiting room, leaning on the reception desk and giving the woman behind it the life story of the couple walking in. Sherlock saw him immediately and walked towards him. "John," he said. "It's been four hours."

"Sorry Sherlock. I wanted to let Mary rest until they brought the baby back. Without your incessant talking."

Sherlock looked a bit miffed, but he followed John back to the room. Mary smiled as they walked in, the baby sleeping peacefully in her arms. Sherlock walked right over and looked down at the child. "A boy," he said immediately.

"The tests were wrong," said John, walking over to join them.

"What did you call him?"

"Dean," answered John.

"Dean, Sherlock repeated slowly, clearly disappointed in the name.

"Dean Sherlock Watson."

Sherlock's mouth twitched upward. "A good choice."


	2. Dinner

**Dinner**

As soon as Moriarty's face had appeared on all screens showing Britain's digital media, Sherlock had been brought back from his brief exile. Mycroft had hoped that he, having the most knowledge of the criminal mastermind, would be able to solve the mystery, but Sherlock was unable to find anything. The problem was given to Britain's best computer hackers, who found the virus, but no way to trace it to its source. Sherlock had looked at the virus's code, but has quickly told Mycroft that he could find nothing of use. As much as the issue frustrated the government, it frustrated Sherlock more.

About a month after Dean's birth, two after the incident, John, Mary, and Sherlock gathered in the Watsons' apartment for supper. Sherlock seemed more distracted than usual and remained silent for the majority of the meal, to the point that he eventually stopped responding the the others' attempts at conversation.

"Sherlock," John repeated for the fifth time. "Earth to Sherlock."

Finally, the man looked at him.

"Mary was asking you about the case."

"What case?"

"The one you solved today."

"You were there. Why didn't you tell her about it?"

John rolled his eyes. He was a child, honestly. "Alright spit it out."

"What?"

"What's on your mind? You've barely spoken all evening."

"There's a pattern. It's binary. Moriarty tried to use it to trick me two years ago. It was in the virus in the public communications system."

"Moriarty's code was in the virus? Why didn't you tell Mycroft?"

"What could Mycroft have done with it? Obviously Moriarty gave it to the hacker to get my attention. The question is why. There was nothing else I could deduce from the virus, so I allowed Mycroft to give it to his _professionals_." The last word was spoken with none to subtle sarcasm.

"The code has been appearing in nearly all of our cases for the last month. The supposed UFO – the lights flashed in the pattern. The serial murders in the town houses – the numbers were scratched into all of the victims' floors. The elephant that escaped from the zoo had the code stamped on the tag on its ear.

"He's taunting me, but I can't understand why. He knew he was going to die and he had no reason to set this up if he couldn't watch. It would also mean he knew I was going to live. I don't know why he would have killed himself knowing his plan was going to fail. It doesn;t make any sense."

"Are you sure he's dead. I mean, I thought you were dead for two years."

"He's dead. It was Moriarty and saw the bullet go through his head. Molly did the autopsy herself."

Dean began to cry from an adjacent room. Mary sighed. "I'll be right back."

She left the room. "Was there anything else?" John asked. "Or just the codes?"

Sherlock said nothing. "Sherlock!"

The detective turned in surprise. "Yes?"

John sighed. "I'm getting cheesecake."

John walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator to look for the dessert. As he was unwrapping the plastic covering, he heard the sudden scraping of a chair against the floor. He hurried back into the dining room as Mary came through the opposite door. "Sorry Mary, dinner was lovely," he said quickly. "Come along John, we have to hurry."

"Why?"

"I'll explain on the way." He threw John's coat at him. "Put your coat on. The game is on!"


	3. Moriarty

**Moriarty**

"Sherlock! What is going on?" John demanded as the two men clambered into a cab.

"This location," Sherlock told the cabbie, holding his phone forward with what John guessed was an address displayed on the screen. The cabbie pulled away from the curb and drove off. Sherlock passed the phone to John.

"The pool! Why..." He glanced at the message above the address, then at the initials below it. "You got a text from somebody using Moriarty's initials saying to meet him by the pool." He turned to look at his friend, aghast. "You seriously think this is safe!?"

"Of course I don't, John. It's obviously a trap."

"And you're still going."

"Nothing we do is safe. This may be our chance to find out what's going on."

"Of course," John muttered. He leaned back in his seat. Sherlock seemed totally unfazed by the potential danger, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something truly bad was going to happen.

The pool was dark and silent when they arrived. Sherlock entered first with John close behind, their footsteps echoing in the near empty space. John began to wonder if it was all just a joke. There was no one there. Suddenly, the lights flickered on as a familiar character entered dramatically through the opposite door. "Sherlock! How pleasant to see you alive!" he said loudly, making wide gestures with his hands.

"And you as well," Sherlock said simply. John half expected to hear the note of arrogance in his voice that showed that he had known the truth all along, but the detective seemed just as surprised as he was.

"I knew you'd come. You couldn't resist an answer, could you?"

"A bullet went through your head. I saw you up close. You were dead." John could tell the Sherlock was searching for an answer he couldn't find, just had he had done dozens of times before. "How did you do it?"

A red dot appeared on Sherlock's forehead and, judging by the way his friend turned to look at him, there was one on his own as well. "You first," hissed Moriarty. "Your boyfriend's alive – you must have jumped! That should have been the end! But YOU CAME BACK! YOU CLEARED YOU NAME! HOW?" He paused. "I heard that fool Anderson's theories! But none of them were CORRECT, WERE THEY? HOW DID YOU DO IT!?"

"I'm going to tell you and you're going to let us walk away?"

"No! You're going to tell me and you are going to die! FOR GOOD! I am going to watch you DIE!"

"Seeing as I'll die either way, it would be easier not to tell you." Sherlock sounded cocky, but John could tell he was scared.

Moriarty clearly saw the flaw in his own plan, but his eyes quickly flicked to John. It was clear he had no real preference as to his fate. "You tell me, he lives!"

Sherlock looked at John, desperate. He was obviously trying to think of some option, and John saw glaze slightly as he tried to enter his mind palace. But he needed time for that and time was something they didn't have. "John, go."

"No."

"NO! He stays until you tell me! EVERYTHING!"

Sherlock told him. His voice was cold. The glee John would have expected as he told Moriarty how he had outsmarted him was not there. He finished "Now, John," he said, almost as a conclusion to his tale.

"Sherlock, I'm not leaving you here."

"John, go. Now."

"Sherlock..."

"John. You have a son. Go." His voice nearly caught.

John knew he was right. He was a father. He couldn't choose Sherlock over his own son. He took a last look at his friend, then he turned and ran. Out in the hallway he heard the loud noise of a gunshot. He tried to keep himself from crying out.

Sherlock had turned out to be alive on more evidence than that. But this time it was worse. This time he didn't know.


End file.
